in nearby boulder, colorado, we've got chad meyers here in the weather center. annas start with you. how bad has it been there? >> reporter: it's getting worse, really by the moment, especially as the emergency crews start to really assess this situation. we are live right now in boulder, the city. but the whole county's affected. in fact, this is a statewide disaster at this point. you can see this rushing water coming over one of the roadways here and the large rocks in the middle of the roadway, debris brought down from several of the tributaries in the hillside behind me. schools and other residents behind me. the worst is in some of the outlying county areas and the mountainous areas where we're learning they've lost homes, cars, bridges, roads. so the access to get to people who need help is very difficult for the emergency rescuers. the national guard is being mobilized to help people here in boulder and across the county as well. >> to chad to talk about the big picture here. was this expected? this is all about flash flooding, getting swept away in the middl